The Lancaster Bible men's basketball team opens its 2015-16 season Tuesday night at Elizabethtown and though some names and faces have changed, many players from the core of last season's 28-3 squad remain and will look to lead the Chargers to their elusive North Eastern Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. Gone are starting guards Naheer Mirza and Albert Suniga, but reigning NEAC Player of the Year CJ Dunston returns, along with Dondre Perry, Jordan Mellinger and Luke Roundy as the Chargers will look to win the NEAC Regular Season title for the third straight season.

The Recap:
Lancaster Bible enjoyed the best season in program history a year ago as the Chargers finished 28-3 and won the NCCAA Division II National Championship for the first time in school history. After losing their first game of the season to Messiah, the Chargers rattled off 15 straight wins and established a new program-record for consecutive victories. Following a late January loss to Gallaudet, Lancaster Bible rattled off eight more wins to finish the regular season with a 23-2 record and earned the top spot in the NEAC standings and the right to host the NEAC Final Four for the second straight year.

After dispatching Keuka in the NEAC Semifinals, the Chargers found themselves in the NEAC Final for the second straight season and faced the NEAC North Division's top team, SUNY Cobleskill. Lancaster Bible had escaped SUNY Cobleskill with a 55-54 win just two weeks prior to the NEAC Final on a last second bucket by Suniga and the Chargers and Fighting Tigers had been the conference's best two teams all season long. The game was a back and forth battle with neither team holding a lead of larger than six points, but Chargers went cold from the field in the second half and could not connect on a last second shot to tie the game and lost, 49-46. 

In the NCCAA Playoffs, Lancaster Bible hammered Valley Forge, 84-64 to win the NCCAA East Region and entered the NCCAA Div. II Tournament as the second seed. After beating Manhattan Christian in the opening round, the Chargers downed Grace Bible (Mich.), 64-52 and advanced to the NCCAA Div. National Championship game for the first time in program history where they met upstart, eighth-seeded Hillsdale Baptist who had defeated top-seeded Ohio Christian two rounds earlier. Lancaster Bible started strong and pulled away in the second half to capture the school's first-ever NCCAA National Championship with a 78-65 win. Dunston was named Tournament MVP as he shot 22-of-28 (78.6 percent) from the floor over three games and had 53 points and 33 rebounds.

The Players:
Dunston, a senior, will lead the Chargers once again this season as he averaged 14.6 points and 9.1 rebounds a game last season en route to being named NEAC Player of the Year and earning a spot on the NEAC All-Conference First Team. Fellow seniors Dondre Perry is also back for one last season and he will once again look to average double digits as he had 13.2 points per game last season and swung the momentum of several games with his high-flying dunks. 

Seniors Jordan Mellinger and Luke Roundy will also be back for one last hurrah as Mellinger will be looked upon to provide stellar defense and quality shooting, while Roundy will come off the bench to provide the Chargers with rim protection on both ends of the floor. Sophomore Herbie Brown, an unsung hero in many games last season, returns and will look to excel on both ends of the floor again. 

Jon Bird and Nick Monroe also return for one more season as they will come off the bench and provide quality minutes for the Chargers. Junior guard Javon Cole will also come off the bench and use his quickness to keep the Chargers going offensively and provide solid defense on the other end of the floor. Senior Marquis Boone will also see minutes off the bench this season for the Chargers.

Joining the Chargers this season will be transfers Ty Constein, Bryce Williams and Bill Livezey, as well as true freshmen Jonah Attoe, Tyler Baughman and Emmitt Miller. Also returning, though not from last season, is junior Kurt Keltner who rejoins the team after service in the armed forces. Keltner and Mellinger will look to form their fantastic defense duo from two years ago when they combined for 57 steals and helped the Chargers allow just 66.7 points per game. 

The Coach:
Lancaster Bible welcomes Zach Filzen to the fold as he takes the reigns of the program after Marshall Tague stepped down following the 2014-15 season to take the head coaching job at Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina. Filzen, a former NCAA Division I student-athlete at Buffalo, was hired in early June and has spent the summer and preseason getting to know the players, inputting a new offense, recruiting and getting acclimated to the Lancaster area. Filzen will be assisted by Pete Beers and Jared Wilcox this season.

The Outlook:
Despite the fact the Chargers have been the top seed in the NEAC Playoffs for the past two years, the Chargers were picked second in this season's NEAC Preseason Poll as they finished with 128 points, while Gallaudet claimed 129 points. While preseason polls don't define expectations, Filzen said he knows there are lots of expectations for this year's squad based on the team's past success.

"The team has had good success here the past few years, but we are still searching for our first NEAC Championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament," Filzen said. "We are trying to get better every day and there is still lots of work to be done. The guys are self-motivated on and off the floor and we like the expectations that have been placed on us."

In addition to a full month of preseason practices, the Chargers were able to play two scrimmages earlier this month and Filzen liked what he saw.

"I like our willingness to compete and the guys want to win every time they are on the floor," Filzen said. "We have to continue to come together as there are lots of new faces, both staff and players, and we really have been emphasizing a 'we, not me' mentality."

Of the nine returning players, they accounted for 46.4 points of the 73.2 points scored per game last season, thus the newcomers will be looked upon immediately to provide an offensive spark. 

"The guys have done well meshing together and embracing one another on and off the floor," Filzen said. "They enjoy playing together on the floor and are clicking well, it just takes time for all of that to come together completely."

Lancaster Bible will once again have a tough opening month of games as the Chargers face Elizabethtown to open the season and will then take part in the TownePlace Suites Tip-Off Tournament at Messiah where they will play the host Falcons and then either Franklin & Marshall or New Jersey City. Following the weekend, Lancaster Bible will host Eastern and then open NEAC play against Penn St. Berks and Bryn Athyn, before closing the first semester with games against Cairn and Mount Aloysius.

"I think those first few games will really show us where we are as a team," Filzen said. "We think we have some talent here and these opening games will show us if our work ethic matches our talent. These games won't make or break our season, but we want to win early in the season and use these games as a stepping stone to success later in the year."

Filzen said with so many seniors and guys who have been through the heart break of the past few seasons, it's no secret of what the team's expectations are this season.

"We aren't hiding the fact of what our goals are," Filzen said. "We believe we have a good team and our goal is to win the NEAC title and play in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The talent is there, but we need to work hard every single day if we are going to attain our goals this season."